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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22928761">Real Love [McLennon]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgesbiscuit/pseuds/georgesbiscuit'>georgesbiscuit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Beatles (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gay, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:49:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22928761</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgesbiscuit/pseuds/georgesbiscuit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Paul were close childhood friends, but those years have passed and the two have stopped hanging out together, for no apparent reason. Fate, however, has much more in store for them. A meeting between the two, now grown-up Liverpool children, will reconnect them again, but in a very different way from when they were younger. </p><p> </p><p>brvckets on wattpad</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>John Lennon/Paul McCartney</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Like a Fever Dream</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>1952 </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>We were running carelessly towards the large garden of strawberry fields. The sun was hitting on our little heads as we were taking a seat on the grass under us. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was a beautiful day, just like every other day when I was with John. He always dragged me here but I never complained about it, I never questioned it, it was his favorite place and I was just glad to be the one he shared it with. Soon it became my favorite spot too. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Paul?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em> His voice pulled me out of my own thoughts, instantly turning my head in his direction.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "What is it, John?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Are you going to leave me, too?" he broke the silence after a while, throwing me off guard with that question. However, I knew where it was coming from, he was just scared to lose someone he loved. Again. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>A fainted smile grew on my face as I was ready to reassure him that no, I would've never even thought about doing such a thing to him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"John, you're my bestest friend! I would never!" I almost screamed those words to him, just to be sure he could hear them clearly. I got closer to the small, fragile boy and put my arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly and causing him to slightly raise his lips into a smile. "I need you and you need me. We need each other!" </em>
</p><p>
  <em>John stared at me for a minute and he looked like his sadness just got all wiped away right at that moment, as if he just needed to hear those words to be happy again. It made me happy too. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Promise?" John said, with a big smile now. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Pinky promise!" I said right after, locking his pinky with mine which caused a little giggle from both of us. It was a promise meant to last forever.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Strawberry Fields Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Life is unpredictable, most of the time. People come and go, relationships end and many promises once made are broken in the blink of an eye. Several things are not meant to last forever, no matter how hard you try to keep them together. That’s life. <br/>
Paul and John know something about it. After all, they’re two of many who grew apart and have stopped being friends. For no reason, they began to see each other less and less until they completely stopped. <br/>
It’s been seven years for both of them now, they’re older and their friendship is just an old, dreamy memory that sits at the very back of their minds. Or so they thought. </p><p>
  <strong>1959 - Present. </strong>
</p><p>“Paul, you're going to be late for school!” Paul heard someone shouting out of his bedroom door, only when he was fully awake he could recognize it was his dad's voice telling him to wake up. He took a quick look at the clock as he stretched his arms in the air and jumped out of the bed when he saw how late it was. He rapidly put his clothes on and walked down the stairs, he let out a short <em>Bye!</em> to his dad and brother and run out of the door. Just as he thought, George was waiting for him outside his house.</p><p>“Oh, there you are! Thought you'd never come out of that door.” George said, with a slightly annoyed tone and his arms folded. </p><p>“Sorry mate, I had a hard time waking up this morning.” Paul replied with a little shortness of breath from doing things so fast. George shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he didn't complain about it. He was just glad that he finally came, after he stood there waiting for so long. </p><p>“Let's just go, we're already pretty late.” He said right after, with a faint smile on his face. The two boys started walking on the path that led to school as they talked about everything and nothing just to kill the time. </p><p>The day at school was like any other day, tremendously boring. Paul waited impatiently for it to end and, as soon as the bell of the last lesson rang, he stormed out of the class and met George at the school entrance. They walked until they arrived at George's house, Paul waved goodbye to him before his friend entered the building, then he started walking towards his. </p><p>His days were invariably monotonous. They followed only one pattern every time, never daring to break the mold even once. This was his life. <em>Wake up, meet George, go to school, go back home, eat, do something to not bore yourself to death, eat, sleep.</em> And again. Every day. He felt like he was in a loop with no way to get out. Sometimes he wondered how it'd feel to have fun just like the other 17 year olds like him had. It just felt like something was missing in his life. </p><p>After his mum died, everything changed. It seemed like the world turned gray and not only for him, but for his dad and his brother Mickey as well. Paul has never seen his dad cry until they lost his mother. It broke the old man entirely. She was a wonderful woman and Paul knew she was still there with them, somewhere. They just couldn’t see her, but he knew. He just wished things went differently for their family.</p><p>In times like this, he'd enjoy a long walk by himself and he'd think about everything that had happened. He got a call from George asking him if he wanted to go to his house not too long ago but Paul politely refused. George knew that sometimes Paul had to isolate himself from everything else, he understood that his friend needed space and Paul was glad for that. </p><p>Right now he was just wandering around the streets of the town, the wind gently blowing on his hair. Without realizing, his feet reached a place that looked quite familiar to him. He read the name under his breath. </p><p><em><strong>Strawberry Fields.</strong></em> </p><p><em>Wait</em>, he muttered to himself. <br/>
He knew that place! He used to come there quite often with his friend. His best friend <em>John</em>. <br/>
He took a step in and began walking towards the field, his lips turning into a smile as all the memories spent there were flooding in his head. Paul remembered everything. </p><p>When he finally found the spot where the two kids used to settled down, he stopped and did so. The boy brought his knees close to his chest and surrounded them with his arms. He found it crazy to think that John and he used to be so close back in the day. If it weren't for him, Paul wouldn't even know about this place. And now, he doesn’t even know where he is. He doesn’t know how he's doing. He wondered if his old friend was a different person now? Paul changed, for sure. They were so much younger before, if he remembered right John should be eighteen now. He was a year older than Paul. <br/>
He remembered that they promised each other to be best mates forever right in this place and now look at them. <br/>
He can hardly recall their childhood together. Paul never understood what made them get so distant from each other and, maybe, he never will. John didn’t know either, for all that matters, but Paul obviously didn’t know that. It was too late, nonetheless.</p><p>Paul placed his head on his knees and let out a deep sigh, the view in front of his eyes was serene yet nostalgic. He decided to switch position and he was now laying down the grass, his eyes slowly shutting down as his eyelids were starting to feel heavy. He didn't worry too much about falling asleep there and he was too tired to care anyway. Nobody was there and it seemed like no one would come any time soon, so he just let himself drift off. </p><p>His head feeling lighter as the minutes passed. </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Unexpected Guest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Birds were chirping as the sunlight was piercing into John's room through the window. <em>Ah, yes. Here comes another day of my miserable life</em>, John thought. </p><p>“John, for the last time, get ready for school or you’re going to miss the bus!” </p><p>There she was. His aunt Mimi.</p><p>Mimi was an impenetrable cold woman, she never told John how much she loved him, but she did and very much. John didn’t need to hear those words from her anyway, her actions made it clear for John that she wasn’t so cold-hearted as she wanted to appear. Sometimes she would even caress his cheek in a motherly way and John would just let her. The boy hardly admitted it but he loved her as if she was his biological mother. </p><p>John was fully awake once he heard Mimi calling him for the sixth time, but his bed was too comfortable for him to simply leave it like that. He put his head under the pillow, he couldn’t stand Mimi screaming anymore, and he tried to go back to sleep but that was just impossible. <br/>
He suddenly felt a cold wind spreading on his legs, only to realize right after that Mimi had catapulted into his room and removed the warm blankets off of him. </p><p>“John Winston Lennon, do you want me to go voiceless? How many times do I have to tell you to get up? Come on!” she said, with her hands firmly on her hips. <br/>
The young man glanced at her with a painful look on his face, almost as if he was very sick and that was the final look he could gave her before dying. In reality, he was just trying really hard to convince her into not sending him to school. Just with that look on his face. <br/>
That, of course, didn’t work on his aunt.</p><p>“I just don’t feel really well today, Mimi… Can’t I just stay here?” he asked his aunt, trying to sound as sick as possible.</p><p>Mimi looked as if she was actually considering whether to kick John out of bed or let him stay home. She let out a big sigh and shook her head, just before leaving his room. “Whatever, John.” <br/>
John was lucky that day, because Mimi wasn't really in the mood to fight with him, like they do every day, so she simply gave up.</p><p>A satisfied grin immediately grew on his face as he reached the blankets and covered his body with them again. He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. It was pretty early in the morning anyway. </p><p>He stayed in his bed for a while. He didn’t even realize how much he slept until he heard Mimi knocking on his door to tell him that lunch was ready. <em>Wow, I dozed off for that long</em>, he mumbled under his breath. <br/>
He lazily got up from bed and changed into his clothes, he put his glasses on and went downstairs, where Mimi was waiting for him. John sat down at the table and they began to eat, Mimi was saying something but John wasn’t really listening. He guessed she was nagging him about how often he was skipping school or something like that, just as always, so he didn’t even bother listening anymore.</p><p>Once they finished lunch, John went upstairs again to grab his notebook and pen. “I’m going for a walk, bye!” he said as he was already out of the door. He was headed to strawberry fields. After all this time, it was still his favorite place to go every afternoon. <br/>
He started whistling a tune and strolling on the sidewalk, after not too long he arrived at his destination. He opened the gate and went inside, searching for his usual spot already with his eyes. He was impatient to write on his notebook.</p><p>Then, he suddenly stopped.</p><p>John reached a point where he could perfectly see it, and noticed that someone was already there. He found it weird, because nobody ever came there. <br/>
The lad didn’t know what to do, at this point. He was feeling inspired and he just wanted to go sit down and write some poems but someone already took <strong>his</strong> place.</p><p>He started to feel nervous and quite angry.</p><p>He slowly began to move his feet towards the person who was lying on the grass, he thought of many different ways of telling the other guy to go sleep his arse off somewhere else, but none of them seemed convincing.</p><p><em>Hello, I was wondering if you could, like, leave?</em><br/>
He asked himself if that was too rude but, at the end, it’s not like he minded. <br/>
John could just kick his arse out of there for all he cared.</p><p>Once John was standing next to the boy, he hesitated and looked at the stranger for a moment, which seemed to be peacefully sleeping. His face was familiar, maybe he had seen him somewhere?</p><p>John brushed that thought off his mind and slightly tapped his shoulder with his foot. The stranger boy murmured something, but John didn’t quite catch it, and proceeded to turn his back to him, still sleeping. The auburn lad was getting pretty impatient at this point, he kneeled down to the boy's height and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking it with a more decisive movement. </p><p>“Hey, excuse me…?” John said in a calm tone, he didn’t want to look like a crazy bloke who was about to attack him or something. The boy finally woke up and turned his body towards John, “What?” he said with a hoarse voice and looked at the older boy with a quite confusing stare. John was sure it wasn’t the most pleasant way of waking up, but he didn’t really care.</p><p>He was about to tell him to piss off but the words appeared to get stuck in his throat. The boy didn’t say anything either but he looked at John with his eyes widened, while he adjusted his position and was now sitting in front of him. John could have swore in that moment that he looked just like this one kid he used to be friends with, but he felt like that would’ve been too much of a coincidence. </p><p>“Wait… Aren’t you…?” the boy almost said in a whisper, still looking at John as if he was either analyzing his face or waiting for him to finish his question. John looked back at him, he didn’t really know what was happening but something felt weird. His heart was pumping faster all of a sudden, he was almost sure that he knew him now, he just needed one more proof. One more sign. </p><p>Before he could go on with his thoughts, the auburn boy heard him say something. <br/>
Something that instantly snapped him back to reality.</p><p>“<em>John?</em>” </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hope you're liking the story so far. If you want, let me know what you think down in the comments. </p><p>enjoy &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>John?</em>” </p><p>John mentally asked himself if he had imagined it or not. He realized it did happen once he saw the boy's look on his face, as if he was waiting for a confirmation. John widened his eyes, just like the other boy did, once he finally admitted to himself that it was no one else but <em>Paul McCartney</em>, his childhood best friend. He still looked at him without saying anything, he noticed Paul didn't change at all since the last time he saw the younger lad, which was ages ago. If anything, he only got... Prettier? <em>I sound like a queer now</em>, John mentally called out himself. </p><p>“John Lennon? It's you, right? After all this time...” the dark brown-haired boy continued, his lips formed a large smile on his face. </p><p>“The one and only, Paul.” John simply said, smiling back at him. They haven’t pronounced each other's names for what it seemed to be an eternity, it felt strange for the two boys to do it now. “So, how have you been?” John asked as he sat down, next to Paul. They were pretty close, physically speaking. Theoretically, though, they weren't. Even after spending their whole childhood together, they were now just.. <span class="u">Strangers</span>. </p><p><br/>
“Quite good, I suppose. How about you?” Paul said, looking at the natural scenery in front of them. Once John had confirmed that it was in fact John himself, Paul barely looked at him, he was getting slightly nervous and wasn’t so good at hiding it. On the other hand, John was trying not to show it as much as he could. </p><p>“I'm not so bad myself either.” </p><p>“Do you still live with your aunt? Y'know...” </p><p>John knew what he meant by that question as soon as he heard it. Paul knew awfully well of John's difficult childhood. Hell, he was by his side all the time, of course he knew. He knew that John often asked Mimi where his mum was and she would simply ignore it and try to change the subject, which only made the little John mad and he would, later on, find himself vent it all to his best friend, Paul. He knew it was a source of pain for him and he just hopefully wished that Julia, John's mother, had finally showed up at Mimi's house, which became John's house too over the years, and had tried to reconnect with his son. <br/>
She never did, though one day John was finally fed up of the situation and found the guts to go to her house and do so himself. <br/>
He told Paul, right away. </p><p>“Oh! How did that go?” Paul finally glanced at him and asked the question with what looked like a genuine interest in his eyes. John was surprised, no one has ever shown interest in what he did. That made John smile a little. </p><p>“It went well. We spent a lot of great time together, actually.” John replied, biting his lower lip. All of his memories with his mother inundated his mind like a big wave of cold water. He didn’t know if he should tell Paul that yes, he finally got to know her and they had made beautiful memories together, but that was it. He couldn’t spend time with her anymore, because his mother was no longer here. </p><p>“I'm happy for you, John. That's great, y'know? To be finally close with your mum, after all those years you spent wondering where she was.” Paul said, looking into his eyes. He had a wide smile on his face, which disappeared in a matter of seconds as soon as John talked again. </p><p>“She's dead. She died last year.” John didn’t know why he said it. It brought up all the sadness he was trying to hide from everyone and was just an unnecessary thing to say to someone you had just met after years. He tried to make it as short and cold as possible. One more word and he would've probably started crying and he had promised himself not to. Not in front of someone, at least. </p><p>“Wh–What?!” Paul was shocked, John wasn’t sure if it was because of what he said or how he said it. Probably both. </p><p>“Yeah. Some drunk policeman hit her with his bloody car.” </p><p>He really didn’t want the conversation to go there, he mentally cursed himself for even mentioning it in the first place. </p><p>“I'm... I'm sorr–” </p><p>“Don't say that. Don't be sorry.” John quickly cut in before Paul could finish. Paul was still too shocked to reply, so he simply watched John reaching for his pocket in search of a cigarette, put it between his fingers and lit it up as he went on. “It's not your fault, is it now?” John chuckled just to ease the atmosphere that had created between the two of them, Paul did the same right after. </p><p>“That's not what I meant.” he said, a weak smile on his face. </p><p>“I know. Thank you.” John looked at him and sincerely smiled, before taking a drag from his cigarette. He then brought it near Paul's face and asked, “Want a drag?” <br/>
Paul merely nodded with a smile on his face and John waited for him to take the cigarette but, instead, the younger boy moved his face closer to his hand and took a drag from it while it still was between John's fingers. It gave John a weird feeling in his stomach. <br/>
“Ta'” Paul said as he exhaled the smoke through his mouth. The auburn haired boy stayed silent for a moment and looked at him, the daylight hitting on Paul’s face made him squint his eyes a little and John found himself smiling at it. It was... Funny, he assumed that was why. </p><p>“Anyway that's enough of me, how's your family?” John asked after a while. <br/>
The sudden talking made Paul slightly jump, but John didn’t want their conversation to die there because of what he had said, hence why he tried to change the topic. </p><p>“We're good, yeah. It's just that... Uh...” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>“My... Y'know... mum...” </p><p>“What about her?” </p><p>“My mum died, too. Three years ago.” Paul finally let it out some seconds after taking a long breath. He wouldn’t have said such a thing in a situation like that either but, since John opened up to him, he figured he could do the same. John realized right in that moment that there was someone who could understand him. He wasn't the only one hurting. He wasn't the only one who had lost someone he loved. And he knew Paul loved his mum a lot, because John would always go to his house when they were best mates and the bond his mum and he shared was so strong, John often wished that he could have something like that with his mum too. <br/>
John knew that it must’ve been really hard for him when he lost her. It broke the older lad's heart just hearing it. After all, he knew Paul's mum too. She was like a second mother when he was little. </p><p>“It sucks, y'know? Life. It's so unfair.” John told him as he took another drag from the cigarette. He could feel his eyes water but he pushed the tears back in as soon as possible. Paul sighed and brought his knees close to his chest, hugging them, “Yeah”, he simply muttered. </p><p>They stayed there for hours catching up with each other, talking about something more cheerful until the sun in front of them settled down and the warm wind was replaced with a slightly cold breeze. <br/>
“I think it's better if I go now, me dad's probably wondering where I am.” Paul slowly stood up, which made John frown a little. He was enjoying Paul's company and he honestly didn't want to go home yet. “But hey... John. It was nice meeting you again and talking to you. I hope I see you again. I mean it.” <br/>
John smiled at him as he got up too, standing in front of him now. He hoped as well that they would see each other, it didn’t feel so bad to open up with someone since he never did it with anyone before. <br/>
“You can find me here or you can just come to me house, if you remember where I live.” John smirked a little bit when he noticed Paul was actually trying to remember his address. </p><p>“251 Menlove Avenue... Right?” Paul replied, cocking his head to one side. John didn't expect him to get it right. </p><p>“Ye. I guess I'll see you then?” </p><p>“Sure! See ya, Johnny!” he waved goodbye and run away, leaving John standing there. He looked at Paul's slim figure becoming smaller and further away until he could no longer see him. That was when he started walking too, not to go home though. He wandered into the streets, a smile soon appearing on his face. <em>Johnny</em>. Paul had called him Johnny. Just how he used to call him when they were little kids. <br/>
For John, it was the last and crucial confirmation that their friendship did, in fact, exist and it wasn't a fever dream or one of the many masterpieces his imagination had elaborated. <br/>
No, it was real. <em>It was all real</em>.</p><p> </p>
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